UNH ties series at PC: Game 3 tonight

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — On a line where all three forwards look to pass first, someone has to shoot.

That someone turned out to be sophomore Matt Willows, whose first career hat trick was the difference in the University of New Hampshire hockey team’s 4-1 win Saturday over Providence that evened their best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal playoff series at one game apiece.

The decisive third game will be played today (4:30 p.m.) at Schneider Arena.

Willows scored once in each period, including the go-ahead goal in the first period, the game-winning goal in the second and an empty-netter that sealed it with 1:37 left in the game.

“It feels great obviously to get a couple goals,” said Willows, who finished with a team-high six shots on goal. “It feels good to get any goal. Me and my linemates played well together and I finished the chances I got.”

Junior Kevin Goumas assisted on all three of Willows’s goals.

“We’ve been working well together,” Goumas said. “Before the game he was in my (hotel) room and we were just talking about how one of us has got to shoot more. He stepped up and I found him a couple times. He shot the puck and it worked. He scored that first one and put them back on their heels a little bit and we kept the momentum going for the rest of the game.”

Jeff Silengo also scored for the Wildcats in his first game back after missing the previous seven with a concussion.

Casey DeSmith finished with 38 saves as the Friars outshot UNH, 39-24, including 16-6 in the third period.

“He’s best when he’s getting a lot of action,” said UNH coach Dick Umile. “They were throwing it to the net and they made some good plays and he stood tall. It was a good team effort by everybody.”

The seventh-ranked Wildcats improved to 19-9-7 with just their third win in the last 12 games while No. 17 Providence dropped to 16-13-7.

The last time the Wildcats came back from a 1-0 deficit to win a best-of-three series was in 1990 at Providence.

It was UNH’s first win over the Friars this season in five tries.

“It feels real good bringing it to a third game,” Umile said. “It was a heck of a hockey game. I thought both teams played well and we scored goals at key times. It’s all about scoring when you need to.”

Trailing 2-1, Providence nearly tied the game midway through the third period but Tim Schaller’s backhander from in tight hit the crossbar. That was confirmed after the play was reviewed at 9:36 of the third.

UNH almost had some insurance with six minutes left but Scott Pavelski, who was the trailer on the play, hit the pipe on an odd-man rush.

Silengo finally gave the Wildcats some breathing room when his wrist from the left circle eluded PC goalie Jon Gillies with 2:27 remaining.

“I think we have a lot of momentum,” Goumas said. “We’re trying to fight to get to Boston. It’s single elimination from here on out.”

Coming into the game the seventh-ranked Wildcats were undefeated (14-0-2) this season when leading after two periods. They were up 2-0 at the end of the second period Saturday on the strength of two goals by Willows, who had only five goals all season until Saturday’s outburst.

Willows has seven in the last nine games. All three Saturday were set up by Goumas, who found an open Willows with a cross-crease pass for an easy finish at 1:45 of the second period that gave UNH a 2-0 lead.

“He played a big game today,” PC coach Nate Leaman said of Willows. “In playoff hockey you usually see that. You see the best competitors. It’s not always the guys that have the tools. It’s the guys that make the most of their tools, and you can see he’s a player like that.”

The Friars got that one back at 3:32 on a power-play goal by freshman Nick Saracino, who stickhandled through the Wildcat defense and put a hard wrister past the glove of DeSmith to make it 2-1.

The goal came just 18 seconds after Jay Camper was penalized for interference. The goal was Saracino’s third of the series and sixth against UNH this season.

Despite being outshot 11-7 in the first period, the Wildcats led 1-0 after one on a goal by Willows, who was assisted by Goumas and freshman defenseman Brett Pesce.

Willows beat Gillies with a nifty move from in close after taking a pass from Goumas and skating in from the right circle.

Going into the game UNH was 12-2-3 when scoring the game’s first goal compared to 6-8-3 when the opposition scores first.

“That was huge, especially down here,” Umile said. “We’re playing ahead. It’s a different game when you’re behind.”

“I feel like we have the momentum,” Willows said. “If we get the same effort (today) it should be a good outcome for us.”